Should par be scraped?

[bobmac]

Should par be scrapped?

Not wanting to hijack the CSS thread.........
But what is the point of having par figures on the card and tee box, they are totally irrelevant to a golfers score.
A golf hole that is 250 yds should be played to the best of your ability, not as a par 4 or 3.

 

[guest100718]

Not wanting to hijack the CSS thread.........
But what is the point of having par figures on the card and tee box, they are totally irrelevant to a golfers score.
A golf hole that is 250 yds should be played to the best of your ability, not as a par 4 or 3.

I'm not one to ask for threads to be locked, but in this case I'll make an exception.

 

[bobmac]

I'm not one to ask for threads to be locked, but in this case I'll make an exception.

Why?

 

[Smiffy]

There is a call by some people for par to be scrapped, but I can't see why you would have to scrape them.

 

[Karl102]

Interesting concept Bob.... Can certainly see your thought process. How would the stableford scoring work?

 

[bobmac]

There is a call by some people for par to be scrapped, but I can't see why you would have to scrape them.

I always got that and heel wrong

Interesting concept Bob.... Can certainly see your thought process. How would the stableford scoring work?

You would just play medal. I never liked stableford

 

[MendieGK]

i always say this about pro competitions, just add up the numbers at the end. job done.

 

[fundy]

I always got that and heel wrong



You would just play medal. I never liked stableford

so because you dont like stableford we shouldnt bother having a par score?

If you dont have a par score how do you work out a handicap? If you dont have par on each hole how do you allocate stroke indexes to enable matchplay?

 

[tsped83]

We should probably scrap scoring altogether then and just play non competitive golf ala kids sports days. Yawn.

 

[rksquire]

I don't think so. Rounds are long enough - with no par, there'd be no point at which you would stop scoring, and everyone would have to hole out.

 

[Region3]

Whilst I don't think par should be scrapped because it would lead to the problems mentioned above (plus others I'm sure), the question does offer some food for thought as far as course management goes.

240yd par 3 with a lot of trouble around a small green. Most of us would take whatever club is required to get there.
Call it a par 4 on the card and a lot would lay up.

Why? The object of the game is to get the ball into the hole in the fewest number of shots, so why would a number written on a card change how that is best achieved?

Same with a 470yd hole. If it's a par 4 most of us would move hell and high water to reach in 2. If it were a par 5 a fair few would play it as a 3 shotter especially if there's risk involved.

 

[fundy]

Whilst I don't think par should be scrapped because it would lead to the problems mentioned above (plus others I'm sure), the question does offer some food for thought as far as course management goes.

240yd par 3 with a lot of trouble around a small green. Most of us would take whatever club is required to get there.
Call it a par 4 on the card and a lot would lay up.

Why? The object of the game is to get the ball into the hole in the fewest number of shots, so why would a number written on a card change how that is best achieved?

Same with a 470yd hole. If it's a par 4 most of us would move hell and high water to reach in 2. If it were a par 5 a fair few would play it as a 3 shotter especially if there's risk involved.

Cant say I do personally, take our 12th and 14th. Run parallel, 12 is slightly longer and a par 5, 12 plays harder and a par 4. Many a round Ive tried to knock it on 12 but laid up just short at 14, if people choose their shots based on the par thats up to them I guess

 

[Region3]

Cant say I do personally, take our 12th and 14th. Run parallel, 12 is slightly longer and a par 5, 12 plays harder and a par 4. Many a round Ive tried to knock it on 12 but laid up just short at 14, if people choose their shots based on the par thats up to them I guess

I have no proof, but I'd guess a large proportion would.

Not just the examples I quoted, I'm sure there are lots of bad decisions made each weekend around the country based on how many shots they'd taken in relation to par rather than the best way to score the fewest strokes.
I know I'm guilty sometimes of taking flags on if I've had to chip out after a bad drive, whereas I'd play middle of the green if I'd smoked my tee shot.

 

[bobmac]

If you dont have a par score how do you work out a handicap? If you dont have par on each hole how do you allocate stroke indexes to enable matchplay?

All courses would still keep a total for SSS as they have now and a S.I. for each hole as they have now.

We should probably scrap scoring altogether then and just play non competitive golf ala kids sports days. Yawn.

You still keep score for each hole as you do today

I don't think so. Rounds are long enough - with no par, there'd be no point at which you would stop scoring, and everyone would have to hole out.

Most people finish a hole anyway.

Whilst I don't think par should be scrapped because it would lead to the problems mentioned above (plus others I'm sure), the question does offer some food for thought as far as course management goes.

240yd par 3 with a lot of trouble around a small green. Most of us would take whatever club is required to get there.
Call it a par 4 on the card and a lot would lay up.

Why? The object of the game is to get the ball into the hole in the fewest number of shots, so why would a number written on a card change how that is best achieved?

Same with a 470yd hole. If it's a par 4 most of us would move hell and high water to reach in 2. If it were a par 5 a fair few would play it as a 3 shotter especially if there's risk involved.

That's my point. Some people play some holes differently because of it's par instead of playing it the best you can.
''I'll lay up short of the bunker cause I can still make a par 5 from there''

It would only affect the few holes that are borderline 3 or 4 or 4 or 5, the rest would be obvious to anyone.

 

[the_coach]

my take would be .... no it should not be scrapped

..... just adopt the index to course handicap system .....

... then no need for bigger golf holes either !!!

folks would just need improve their course management ability

after all golf is a game which utilizes skills and ability

 

[Tongo]

For me I would say no. Last Friday I played and made an absolute mess of the opening 4 holes. There was no chance of shooting my handicap or recording a decent score. Without par there would be nothing less to focus on. However with par I still had the consolation of trying to record as many as possible. That kept me going rather than just mentally switching off.

For someone who has only got as low as a 17 handicap, to make a par is still an achievement.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I'm with Tongo. It gives you something to aim for. Even on a bad day you can aim to get par on the closing holes to keep you going. Without that it could become a trudge. Yes that is a psychological thing but so much about golf is. Incidentally, I love stableford and would never play strokeplay again if I could. Thank you Mr Stableford :thup:

 

[garyinderry]

Par is already adjusted using handicap.

It's just everyone tries to reach the green in reg even if they have a shot in their pocket or not

 

[duncan mackie]

It's a good question, but I believe a better version would be "should people really focus as much on par as they seem to?".
Answer to that is almost certainly no from most posts about performance on here!

It's irrelevant to medal play
It's irrelevant to matchplay
It's relevant to stableford and par competitions but only in conjunction with SI for a handicap golfer ie not in isolation.

Interestingly it only becomes relevant in the USGA and EGA etc systems after the course index and your handicap index are combined to tell you what handicap you are playing off there to make it relevant!

Personally I find the simply evaluation of par v SSS for any course to be an excellent guidance to what I am likely to be taking on, but don't really think about it that much. I also think it can be a nice simple concept for the beginner as an outline aspirational indicator.

 

[patricks148]

interesting idea, par at my place is largely irrelevant, Last medal CSS was 76 ( its a par 71) not RO either, about the 6th or 7th time its been that this year its been 5 over